THE name Fa’side is set to disappear as a council ward in May, when it will be replaced by ‘Tranent, Wallyford and Macmerry’.

Changes to the council boundaries, introduced following a review last year, have forced East Lothian Council to take a fresh look at the names of its wards.

And it has confirmed that the historic Fa’side name will be scrapped, as the current Fa’side ward is to lose Ormiston and Pencaitland to the neighbouring Haddington and Lammermuir ward.

The Boundaries Commission for Scotland recommended the Scottish Government reduce the number of East Lothian councillors from 23 to 22, with a review of its ward boundaries following.

This meant the council had to make two name changes, scrapping Musselburgh West and Musselburgh East and Carberry wards, and replacing them with one ward simply named ‘Musselburgh’; and scrapping Fa’side altogether for the new Tranent, Wallyford and Macmerry ward.

A spokesperson for the local authority confirmed that the new names would come into effect at the local government elections in May this year.

They said: “There will be two name changes associated with the new ward boundaries drawn up by the Boundary Commission. These new wards will take effect for the forthcoming local government elections.”

The decision to merge the two existing Musselburgh wards will reduce the number of councillors in the Honest Toun from six to four.

The new Tranent, Wallyford and Macmerry ward will also include Whitecraig and will also have four elected councillors.

In Haddington and Lammermuir – which now has additional residents from Pencaitland and Ormiston – councillor numbers increase from three to four. Its name is not changing.

The remaining wards of North Berwick Coastal; Dunbar and East Linton; and Preston, Seton, Gosford remain unchanged.

Fa’side has long been recognised as a term relating to Tranent and its surrounding villages. The name comes from the nearby Fa’side Castle and estate, which has been in existence since the 15th century. It is the most populated ward in the county, with the most recent statistics suggesting nearly 19,000 people live there – 37 per cent of them outside of Tranent itself.

The changes mean at least one in five people traditionally living in Fa’side will now be in Haddington and Lammermuir ward.

It is not clear how the new ward changes will impact on the recently established Fa’side Area Partnership, which was set up in 2014 as one of a number of devolved community groups to decide where local authority funds are spent in the communities; however, it is expected the area partnerships will also have their boundaries reviewed.